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A Step into Comcast SportsNet…

Last Monday I was able to go to Comcast Sports Net for my class. During the visit my class was able to meet with Web Editor Chris Clark and Producer Kevin Anderson. During this visit I noticed how the idea of a convergence studio has changed every aspect of news rooms, including sports.

One major change is how Clark talked about everyone being expected to take on extra jobs. Things such as video and social media are now a must for everyone. One thing that is different is that unlike other convergence CSN still has a pretty large news team including an entire web team. This is something different than at places such as Fox News Chicago, where there may be one person that is in charge of social media/the website stories and a five person news team for the 9p.m. newscast.

The most important aspect of this is that everyone is now part of a bigger picture. There are no clean cut jobs where a person does one thing. Clark mentioned that one on air person became great at blogging although he was hesitant. This shows that with a bit of practice, a professional can take his or her talent and apply it to the new means of communicating such as blogs and social media.

While these new means of communication and interaction are great, as always it is important to remember the classic forms. The new means should not dilute or take away from the legacy means, it should simply enhance the process. This is exactly what CSN online does.